PGA Toour Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Before Viktor Hovland gets into Ryder Cup prep mode, one more FedEx Cup celebration awaits

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 06:46:24 +0000

Kevin C Cox

The post-victory obligations for the winner of the Tour Championship are so extensive that Viktor Hovland ate his dinner on the run Sunday night. “Are you eating Chipotle?” Hovland’s caddie, Shay Knight, is seen asking in a PGA Tour video showing Hovland eating a cup of Chipotle guac and chips on the practice putting green at East Lake.

Viktor Hovland’s first meal after the win? Chipotle. pic.twitter.com/9uX8QyO55Z

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 28, 2023

By the time his to-do list was complete at East Lake, it was after 10pm. As such, the celebrations with Hovland and his team in the player lounge within East Lake’s clubhouse were rather mild.

“We were all waiting upstairs in the locker room and the crew was drinking, but everyone was extremely exhausted after the three weeks on the road,” said Knight, a veteran caddie from Australia. The PGA Tour’s playoffs series consists of three consecutive events. Hovland won the second of those, the BMW in Chicago, and the Tour Championship finale.

Hovland’s first season-long title deserves a more thorough celebration, so the team will rendezvous this Friday night in Edmond, Oklahoma, an hour from the former Oklahoma State star’s residence at Stillwater.

“We’ll have a nice dinner and some drinks to celebrate. It’s going to be a good time,” Knight said. Not only will the Norwegian and his support staff toast the $18 million FedEx Cup victory bonus, but a season in which he rose to another level. The World No. 4 won three times, including a first victory on US soil at the Memorial Tournament (following earlier victories in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Germany and Dubai), as well as two FedEx Cup playoffs events. On the majors stage, the 25-year-old registered a top-10 at the Masters and a career-best T-2 at the PGA Championship.

“Winning a major would have been icing on cake, but the Tour Championship is such a monumental accomplishment. It shows he had an incredibly consistent season and then played out of his mind at the end when it counts,” said Knight, noting as well the fact Hovland didn’t miss a cut all season and also was second at the Players Championship.

While claiming the PGA Tour’s season finale, there’s still plenty of golf remaining in 2023 for Hovland. Next week, Luke Donald will name the six captain’s picks for the European Ryder Cup team to go with the six automatic qualifiers that will be locked up this weekend (Hovland has his wrapped up off the World Points List). After that, Hovland, Knight and his team will head to Rome to play a September 11 practice round with the European Ryder Cup team at host course, Marco Simone. After a dinner and bonding session that night, the Europeans then will head to England the following day for the DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA at Wentworth.

“That Monday in Rome will be about getting a feel for the thickness of the rough, and maybe some talk of pairings,” Knight said. “It’s about together, bonding over dinner. The Europeans do it so well. The feeling we saw for Viktor’s first Ryder Cup [2021 at Whistling Straits] is an energy unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s incredible.”

Hovland then has six weeks off between the Ryder Cup and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November — where he’ll attempt to claim another season-long title in 2023.

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FedEx Cup points list standings: Will Zalatoris surges to the top

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 05:59:51 +0000

By GolfDigestME.com
One down, two to go. After 44 regular-season events, the FedEx Cup Playoffs are in full gear, with Will Zalatoris taking the title at the FedEx St Jude Championship on Sunday in a wild playoff win over Sepp Straka at TPC Southwind.

Zalatoris’ maiden tour win jumps him to the top of the FedEx Cup points list, as the top 70 players now move on to the second playoff event, the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.

From 125 to 70 … and now the players are looking to get themselves into the top 30 this week in order to qualify for the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. For the playoffs, points are worth four times that of a regular-season event meaning that a victory earns you 2,000 points.

Here is the updated FedEx Cup points list after the FedEx St Jude. All eligible players ranked from 126 to 200 can compete in the Korn Ferry Tour Final Series, where 25 more PGA Tour cards will be up for grabs.

RANK (LAST RANK): NAME, POINTS
1 (12): Will Zalatoris, 3,680.10
2 (1): Scottie Scheffler, 3,555.98
3 (2): Cameron Smith, 2,547.57
4 (3): Sam Burns, 2,428.51
5 (7): Tony Finau, 2,260.70
6 (4): Xander Schauffele, 2,174.54
7 (5): Patrick Cantlay, 2,129.35
8 (35): Sepp Straka, 2,109.30
9 (6): Rory McIlroy, 2,103.88
10 (8): Justin Thomas, 1,995.63
11 (10): Sungjae Im, 1,992.50
12 (14): Matt Fitzpatrick, 1,944.51
13 (9): Cameron Young, 1,854.76
14 (16): Jon Rahm, 1,797.80
15 (11): Hideki Matsuyama, 1,697.24
16 (13): Max Homa, 1,675.29
17 (15): Jordan Spieth, 1,574.23
18 (19): Viktor Hovland, 1,467.39
19 (20): Joaquin Niemann, 1,440.11
20 (22): Collin Morikawa, 1,437.51
21 (17): Tom Hoge, 1,424.42
22 (18): Billy Horschel, 1,403.22
23 (55): Brian Harman, 1,343.71
24 (21): JT Poston, 1,299.54
25 (34): Joohyung Kim, 1,129.69
26 (23): Davis Riley, 1,126.03
27 (39): Sahith Theegala, 1,098.66
28 (36): Kevin Kisner, 1,059.74
29 (30): Corey Conners, 1,054.30
30 (25): JJ Spaun, 1,035.08
31 (27): Aaron Wise, 1,032.80
32 (31): Maverick McNealy, 1,016.66
33 (40): KH Lee, 1,006.40
34 (121): Lucas Glover, 998.881
35 (42): Denny McCarthy, 995.678
36 (24): Seamus Power, 990.479
37 (28): Shane Lowry, 979.627
38 (37): Keith Mitchell, 969.354
39 (26): Cameron Tringale, 956.873
40 (70): Trey Mullinax, 938.43
41 (38): Mito Pereira, 938.155
42 (29): Luke List, 937.82
43 (32): Russell Henley, 934.409
44 (33): Keegan Bradley, 924.949
45 (77): Adam Scott, 899.177
46 (41): Scott Stallings, 851.78
47 (87): Andrew Putnam, 846.731
48 (43): Kurt Kitayama, 838.627
49 (45): Sebastián Muñoz, 832.608
50 (49): Tyrrell Hatton, 829.974
51 (66): Cam Davis, 826.67
52 (46): Mackenzie Hughes, 820.679
53 (48): Si Woo Kim, 800.729
54 (44): Lucas Herbert, 796.457
55 (56): Emiliano Grillo, 772.333
56 (47): Tommy Fleetwood, 766.407
57 (64): Troy Merritt, 756.559
58 (51): Chez Reavie, 742.228
59 (50): Adam Hadwin, 733.513
60 (53): Christiaan Bezuidenhout, 714.067
61 (52): Chris Kirk, 706.519
62 (65): Taylor Moore, 704.114
63 (54): Matt Kuchar, 695.997
64 (57): Brendan Steele, 688.734
65 (58): Harold Varner III, 682.077
66 (59): Alex Noren, 681.096
67 (60): Taylor Pendrith, 676.753
68 (62): Marc Leishman, 672.356
69 (61): Alex Smalley, 657.665
70 (79): Wyndham Clark, 645.197

More: What to make of the Cam Smith ruling at FedEx St Jude Championship

ELIMINATED AFTER THE FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP
71 (63): Anirban Lahiri, 642.125
72 (99): Lee Hodges, 636.839
73 (67): John Huh, 611.949
74 (68): Brendon Todd, 606.531
75 (73): Gary Woodland, 600.566
76 (74): Beau Hossler, 592.857
77 (69): Lanto Griffin, 592.114
78 (71): Brandon Wu, 586.079
79 (72): Matthew NeSmith, 575.991
80 (75): Chad Ramey, 567.789
81 (76): Adam Long, 563.622
82 (107): Dylan Frittelli, 554.179
83 (110): Ryan Palmer, 544.692
84 (85): David Lipsky, 542.539
85 (93): Adam Schenk, 542.044
86 (78): Daniel Berger, 528.939
87 (80): Joel Dahmen, 524.244
88 (88): Aaron Rai, 518.525
89 (91): Stephan Jaeger, 518.011
90 (81): Patrick Rodgers, 516.631
91 (82): Russell Knox, 514.094
92 (90): Adam Svensson, 510.51
93 (83): Kevin Streelman, 509.064
94 (84): Mark Hubbard, 507.807
95 (86): Peter Malnati, 500.658
96 (89): Danny Lee, 490.481
97 (103): Michael Thompson, 487.369
98 (95): Hayden Buckley, 474.182
99 (92): CT Pan, 472.605
100 (94): Justin Rose, 457.918
101 (100): Martin Laird, 441.853
102 (101): Sam Ryder, 438.983
103 (96): Vince Whaley, 438.098
104 (118): Tyler Duncan, 436.025
105 (97): Jhonattan Vegas, 427.643
106 (98): Nate Lashley, 426.516
107 (108): James Hahn, 417.967
108 (109): Greyson Sigg, 415.21
109 (112): Robert Streb, 412.545
110 (102): Scott Piercy, 410.307
111 (104): Callum Tarren, 404.962
112 (105): Max McGreevy, 404.357
113 (106): Chesson Hadley, 403.776
114 (111): Nick Watney, 387.434
115 (113): Jason Day, 384.805
116 (114): Doug Ghim, 384.687
117 (115): Stewart Cink, 376.103
118 (116): Kevin Tway, 361.331
119 (117): Ryan Brehm, 359.199
120 (119): Matthias Schwab, 352.546
121 (120): Patton Kizzire, 350.841
122 (122): Webb Simpson, 346.19
123 (125): Rickie Fowler, 339.797
124 (123): Nick Taylor, 333.548
125 (124): Kramer Hickok, 328.084

More: Zalatoris survives playoff for maiden PGA Tour title at FedEx St Jude Championship

OUT OF THE FEDEX CUP PLAYOFFS
126 (124): Matt Wallace, 315.82
127 (125): Austin Smotherman, 314.597
128 (128): Justin Lower, 311.472
129 (136): Doc Redman, 303.929
130 (127): Danny Willett, 303.5
131 (131): Kelly Kraft, 288.816
132 (129): Nick Hardy, 288.28
133 (130): Cameron Champ, 287.5
134 (137): Brian Stuard, 284.837
135 (132): Michael Gligic, 283.301
136 (138): Harry Higgs, 272.45
137 (133): Francesco Molinari, 272.347
138 (135): Martin Trainer, 270.293
139 (134): Erik van Rooyen, 268.764
140 (142): Zach Johnson, 245.515
141 (140): Rory Sabbatini, 243.723
142 (139): Hank Lebioda, 241.485
143 (158): Cameron Percy, 239.808
144 (145): Henrik Norlander, 234.9
145 (141): Andrew Novak, 233.341
146 (143): Garrick Higgo, 228.696
147 (144): Brice Garnett, 227.967
148 (146): Jonathan Byrd, 223.135
149 (147): Austin Cook, 212.938
150 (148): Charley Hoffman, 207.235
151 (149): Bubba Watson, 199.056
152 (150): Ben Martin, 196.8
153 (154): Satoshi Kodaira, 196.622
154 (151): Bill Haas, 194.007
155 (152): Andrew Landry, 191.25
156 (153): Ryan Armour, 186.287
157 (155): Dylan Wu, 175.228
158 (156): Chase Seiffert, 173.138
159 (159): Luke Donald, 169.854
160 (157): Paul Barjon, 168.257
161 (176): Richy Werenski, 163.345
162 (160): Sung Kang, 162.982
163 (161): Joseph Bramlett, 161.895
164 (167): Vaughn Taylor, 158.217
165 (162): Scott Gutschewski, 158.187
166 (163): Seth Reeves, 151.581
167 (164): Roger Sloan, 150.818
168 (169): Ben Kohles, 146.029
169 (165): Sean O’Hair, 145.542
170 (166): William McGirt, 144.179
171 (168): Brandt Snedeker, 140.732
172 (170): Kevin Chappell, 138.946
173 (171): Curtis Thompson, 135.85
174 (183): Ryan Moore, 129.657
175 (172): Seung-Yul Noh, 128.025
176 (173): Camilo Villegas, 126.887
177 (174): Jim Knous, 125.242
178 (197): Kiradech Aphibarnrat, 121.699
179 (175): Tyler McCumber, 113.05
180 (179): Scott Brown, 111.449
181 (177): Brandon Hagy, 105.9
182 (178): Tommy Gainey, 105.45
183 (186): Bo Hoag, 97.58
184 (180): Aaron Baddeley, 95.749
185 (181): David Skinns, 94.155
186 (182): Harris English, 91.427
187 (184): Brian Gay, 90.321
188 (185): Wesley Bryan, 90.056
189 (187): Michael Kim, 83.626
190 (188): Jimmy Walker, 82.903
191 (193): Jared Wolfe, 81.36
192 (189): Bronson Burgoon, 80.3
193 (190): Kyle Stanley, 80.232
194 (191): David Lingmerth, 80.069
195 (192): Robert Garrigus, 78.902
196 (194): Dawie van der Walt, 78.096
197 (195): Jim Herman, 76.468
198 (196): Grayson Murray, 70.302
199 (198): Bo Van Pelt, 69.038
200 (199): Jason Dufner, 58.757
201 (200): Jonas Blixt, 49.679
202 (201): Joshua Creel, 47.871
203 (202): Chris Stroud, 44.252
204 (205): Brett Drewitt, 42.317
205 (203): Mark Hensby, 39.611
206 (204): Ricky Barnes, 39.086
207 (206): Greg Chalmers, 32.112
208 (207): David Hearn, 28.215
209 (208): Fabián Gómez, 19.772
210 (209): D.A. Points, 12.805
211 (210): Padraig Harrington, 11.957
212 (211): Jim Furyk, 11.75
213 (212): Johnson Wagner, 11.7
214 (213): Tiger Woods, 11.333
215 (214): D.J. Trahan, 11.012
216 (215): Ben Crane, 10.189
217 (216): J.J. Henry, 9.306
218 (217): Derek Ernst, 9.213
219 (218): Sangmoon Bae, 8.567
220 (219): Arjun Atwal, 5.289
T-221 (T-220): Paul Goydos, 4.9
T-221 (T-220): George McNeill, 4.9
223 (222): Richard Johnson, 4.605
224 (223): John Merrick, 3.62
225 (224): Omar Uresti, 3.5
226 (225): Davis Love III, 3.4
227 (226): John Senden, 3.3
228 (227): Jay Haas, 2.75
229 (228): Brian Davis, 2.738
230 (229): Kevin Stadler, 2.489
231 (230): Ryuji Imada, 2.3
231 (231): Matt Every, 1.867

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PGA Championship 2022: How has golf changed in five decades? Just look at the PGA programme from Southern Hills in 1970

Matt Smith — Wed, 11 May 2022 08:02:50 +0000

By John Huggan
Imagine, if you will, the year is 1970. Dig out those long-forgotten hip-hugging bell-bottom pants and midi-skirts. And settle down to watch the 52nd PGA Championship, which is headed to Southern Hills for the first time in the club’s history. And which is why we are flicking through the official tournament programme, all 210 pages of it.

We recently purchased a copy on eBay for slightly more than the $1 official cover price. As far as reads go, it’s interesting, entertaining and sometimes eyebrow-raising. It is, of course, reflective of the times in which it was published — both good and bad. What was acceptable and the norm more than five decades ago can be head-shaking today, as we fast-forward to a year when the PGA of America holds the 104th PGA Championship and plays the men’s major at the Tulsa, Oklahoma, course for a fifth time. Exclusive country clubs circa 1970 were far from enlightened and/or diverse, as the sea of white/male/middle-aged faces on the various committees shows only too clearly.

Other comparisons between then and now are everywhere. But before we get to that, it must be said this championship was surely one of the friendliest on record. The opening pages of the program are littered with “welcomes” from an eclectic group of clearly terribly important people.

It’s quite a list. Oklahoma Governor Dewey F Bartlett is up first, followed by Tulsa mayor Robert J LaFortune. Then ‘general co-chairmen’ Harold G Lewis and FG McClintock get their say, followed by George H Galloway, president of the Southern Hills Board of Governors. All before a gallery of PGA officials (one of them someone called Jack Nicklaus) leads us into two pages of ‘committee chairmen’. There are 38 of those, only two of them women and all of them white. A broad cross-section of society this was not.

Wait a minute, we’re not done yet. Members of the ‘PGA of America Tournament Players Division, tournament policy board’ make an appearance. Nicklaus is there again. So is commissioner Joe Dey and former US Open and Masters champion Billy Casper. Standing innocently at the back is one Deane Beman, chairman of the ‘Young Players Advisory Council’. Thought with the benefit of hindsight: Who knows what that lot might get up to in the next couple of years? And where could it all lead?

Many are the advertisements within the programme. Julius Boros exhorts us to “play astroturf tees. They stay in championship condition all season.” Lee Trevino was a big fan of the “Faultless” ball. It had so much going for it, too. Tests proved it couldn’t get “out of round, can’t get out of balance”. It played “straighter”. It was “more accurate”. It was “truer on the greens”. And it was “almost impossible to cut”. Quite a combination, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Indeed, several golf ball manufacturers decided it was money well spent to run advertising in PGA official programme. The marketing around them was entertaining in some of its daftness.

Titleist claimed to be “the money ball”, one whose “K2 construction” gives you extra distance consistently. Hang on though. “Look out No. 1,” says another ad. “The Ben Hogan ball outperforms you and consistently drives farther with greater accuracy and tighter dispersion patterns than any other ball tested.”

According to a Uniroyal ad, “there is no regulation ball made that will go faster than this one”. The “Royal”, it is proudly boasted, is available “only in golf professional shops”.

Then there is the Wilson Staff, its ad identifying ‘Lady Luck’ as “fickle”. So we are exhorted to “give the ball a whirl. What have you got to lose? Or, look at it another way — what have you got to win?”

And finally, we are told “the PGA seems like any other ball. Until you hit it”. Apparently it gave off the loudest sound in golf. “Reason — Sonic-Winding. It’s the sound of distance. Play the PGA. For the sound and fury of it.”

I mean, what was a golfer to do amid such confusion?

The list of tour money winners for 1969 makes an appearance. Frank Beard was top with earnings of $175,224. That would have placed Frank somewhere outside the top-400 on the world money list for 2021, only $11,087,424 behind first-placed Collin Morikawa. Or, to put it another way, Beard’s season earnings amounted to just about $5,000 less than the 21st-place finisher in last month’s Masters. At least for today’s generation of tour players, inflation maybe isn’t such a terrible thing.

Southern Hills host professional Dean Adkisson runs us through how he thinks the field will deal with what he calls a “thinking man’s golf course”. Although that is not a description he applies to the opening hole. It will be a “ball” for the “power belters”, according to Adkisson. The second, however, is a “dandy”. And the 12th, according to Ben Hogan, is “the greatest par-4 12th hole in the United States”. On the 16th, “carelessness” can lead to balls “landing in a lake short of the green.” And the 18th is “climaxed by a demanding green to putt”. Breathtaking stuff to be sure.

The 1969 champion, Ray Floyd, is profiled in colourful language. As early as the first paragraph Floyd is variously described as a “bon vivant” and a “baseball player”. Not too long after, the then 27-year-old’s lifestyle is described: “When he’s not on the golf course, or the dance floor, Ray can be spotted in a baseball uniform.” Indeed, the $35,000 cheque from last year’s win at the NCR course in Dayton “helped pay for the many parties the tour’s top swinger can toss at a moment’s notice”.

How, one wonders, are parties “tossed?” Sadly, that question goes unanswered.

Another comparison: This year Southern Hills will measure 7,481 yards in length, 519 yards more than it played in 1970 and an increase of almost 7 per cent. But even then, the course is failing to keep up with today’s power hitters. If we assume that the longest driver in the 1970 field was blasting balls in the region of 275 yards — 46 yards behind Cameron Champ, the leader on tour so far this year — then the percentage increase between then and now is 16.75. Clearly, technology is out-running the ability of the various committees to build new tees.

Still, at least in one respect, today’s PGA Championship is way more enlightened than its 1970-vintage ancestor. The 2022 field will surely do a better job of identifying the best players in the world, regardless of nationality. Indeed, a look back in time reveals a depressingly insular reality.

The 10 exemption categories in 1970:
All former PGA champions
Former US Open champions of the last five years
The PGA Seniors champion
Champions of the 37 PGA Sections
The low-25 scorers in the most recent PGA Club Professionals Championship
The leading 70 money-winners in tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA between July 1 1969 and June 30 1970
Members of the current US Ryder Cup team
Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA since the 1969 PGA Championship.
Five players not included in the categories above to be nominated in the discretion of the PGA Executive Committee
The resident professional

Not exactly an international set of criteria. Not even the reigning Open champion necessarily merited a place at Southern Hills. Nor did the Great Britain & Ireland side that played the Americans to a draw in the most recent Ryder Cup. Times, most certainly, have changed.

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